Optical transceiver devices, such as small form-factor pluggable (SFP) devices, include a transmitter and a receiver for transmitting and receiving data in the form of light pulses over fiber optic cables, as well as converting data in the form of light pulses and electrical signals. These optical transceiver devices may be coupled to a network device mother board (e.g., for a network switch, a router, and so on) to provide an interface between the network device mother board and one or more optical fiber optic cables. Communication systems, such as telecommunication systems and other data communications applications, may therefore include a plurality of such optical transceiver devices for facilitating rapid, high-bandwidth data communication.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MM) systems are one example of a system that may include and rely on such a communication system. MM is a non-invasive medical imaging modality that can create pictures of the inside of a human body without using x-rays or other ionizing radiation. An MRI system uses a powerful magnet to create a strong, uniform, static magnetic field (i.e., the “main magnetic field”). When a human body, or a part of a human body, is placed within the main magnetic field, the nuclear spins that are associated with the hydrogen nuclei in tissue water become polarized such that the magnetic moments associated with these spins become preferentially aligned along the direction of the main magnetic field, resulting in a small net tissue magnetization along that axis (the “z-axis,” by convention). An MRI system also comprises components called gradient coils that produce smaller-amplitude, spatially-varying magnetic fields when current is applied to them. Typically, gradient coils are designed to produce a magnetic field component that is aligned along the z-axis, and that varies linearly in amplitude with position along one of the x, y, or z axes. The effect of a gradient coil is to create a small ramp on the magnetic field strength, and concomitantly on the resonant frequency of the nuclear spins, along a single axis. Three gradient coils with orthogonal axes are used to spatially encode the MR signal by creating a signature resonance frequency at each location in the body. Radio frequency (RF) coils are used to create pulses of RF energy at or near the resonance frequency of the hydrogen nuclei. These coils are used to add energy to the nuclear spin system in a controlled fashion. As the nuclear spins then relax back to their rest energy state, they give up energy in the form of an RF signal. This signal is detected by the RF coils, and combined with multiple additional such signals may be used to reconstruct an MR image.
Given the dual use of RF coils for creating RF pulses as well as detecting the resulting RF signals, fast and consistent transmission of the RF signals from the RF coils as well as transmission of control signals to the RF coils is highly desirable. To that end, optical fibers may be used to transmit data between control apparatuses and the RF coils, and optical transceiver devices may be used to rapidly convert the optical signals carried by the optical fibers into electrical signals, and vice versa. MRI systems may therefore include a plurality of such optical transceiver devices.